The article makes some very good points to consider when assessing (or why you should assess) online discussion:
1. If you aren't grading it, they aren't doing it.
2. It's not quantity, it's quality.
3. The key is creating a high quality rubric which:
a. is quick and easy
b. doesn't stifle creativity
c. provides consistency in your course
In our discussion, we also thought of some other ideas for a successful assessment:
1. Clear expectations and guidelines from day one
2. Real world criteria (no one in the real world would speak three times in a conversation)
3. Some type of commonality/school-wide rubrics
1. If you aren't grading it, they aren't doing it.
2. It's not quantity, it's quality.
3. The key is creating a high quality rubric which:
a. is quick and easy
b. doesn't stifle creativity
c. provides consistency in your course
In our discussion, we also thought of some other ideas for a successful assessment:
1. Clear expectations and guidelines from day one
2. Real world criteria (no one in the real world would speak three times in a conversation)
3. Some type of commonality/school-wide rubrics
Here are six sample rubrics we thought were interesting:
http://frank.mtsu.edu/~webctsup/faculty/manual/WebCT_DiscussionBoardRubrics.pdf
A quick and easy rubric:
http://sites.lafayette.edu/alleyj/files/2009/09/forumrubric.pdf
Here is an example of an asynchronous rubric
Here is an example of a discussion forum rubric that does not take real world criteria into account.
http://www.pbs.org/teacherline/courses/common_documents/disc_assess.htm